Shropshire Routes to Roots

2. What's in a trade directory

Information

The information contained in directories usually followed a pattern. There was a general description of the county, town or parish, containing geographical or historical information, information on local bureaucracy such as the government or the Poor Law, and often some information about a place's cultural life. The general sections were then followed by lists of individuals, either organized by trade, street by street, or by surname like modern telephone directories.

The entries below show the types of information that can be found in trade directories. They are taken from Kelly's Directory of Shropshire, 1882:

Front page about the county of Shropshire Larger image [67kb] (opens in a new window) [Shropshire Archive reference: C67]	Entry about the Parish and village of Edgemond Larger image [52kb] (opens in a new window) [Shropshire Archive reference: C67]	List of trades, 'Dynamite Merchants' to 'Estate Offices' Larger image [43kb] (opens in a new window) [Shropshire Archive reference: C67]
General information about the county	Information about a town or village, including the transport links from a place	Lists of trades people and industries

Transport

For some one looking at the changes in transport, the single most important element of a trade directory is the information about what services were present in a town. In each entry for a town or parish, a directory gives information about canal wharves and railway stations, as well as long distance wagons and horse-drawn omnibuses.

By comparing two directories from different years, it is possible to trace the changes in transportation in an area. Examples of this are given on the Using trade directories page.

Difficulties

However, it is important to be aware that comparisons between directories can, on their own, never be entirely trusted as historical evidence. This is because:

• Some trade directories pirated from earlier published directories. When a later directory suggests a town has changed little, it might be that in fact the information has not been updated afresh.
• Over time, directories published more and better researched information. Early directories may show fewer companies (for example, carriers of goods) in a town compared to later directories. However, it may be that the later version is more comprehensive, finding carriers which were always present but which the earlier directory overlooked.
• An entry for a route from one town to another may not contain the information about the reciprocal route.

Despite these reservations, directories can help the historian. This is especially true of Pigot's, or Kelly's, or Slater's directories; these respected publishers had high standards and checks in place to try to ensure the accuracy of each entry.

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